Vir Vaughn III: Trials of the true hunt
by VaanRagnarok
Summary: The legend of the blood Ooman continues as Vaughn leaves behind his human life to become a skilled and respected hunter. After years of training will he finally catch up to the Yautja bad blood that killed his comrades so long ago?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter1: Alea iacta est...**

There he stood atop the beast. The Ooman Vaughn who had become the hunter. He grabbed a hold of one of many large spikes lining the creature's back. He held tight as the beast bucked and writhed under him. Vaughn threw his hand back, raising the wrist blade then dropping it in an instant and plunging into the beast's eye. The large blades dug in with little effort, gouging the right eye of this swamp beast. It let out a hideous roar as is swung its head from side to side, and shook its body trying to get the man off. Vaughn took one look at the two young Yautja and shouted "run!" and they took off towards a nearby grouping of trees.

The man dove off of beast's back and into the nearby water with a splash. The beast staggered about, its one good eye strained with rage as blood dripped from the other. It sniffed at the air, and caught the sent of the two young Yautja, but it didn't care for them anymore, it wanted the man. It slowly stepped down into the water as it began to whiff small traces of him. It moved further out, and held it's head down close to the water, still sniffing. The jaw of the beast almost touched the water as it continued to search for the synthetic man, a quite unique scent.

There was a calm that crept over the entire swamp, the bugs stopped buzzing, the wind stopped blowing, and water seemed to turn to glass. The only sound was the heavy breathing of the beast. Suddenly an arm shot out of the water, shattering the environmental neutrality. The blades jutted up into the tip of the bottom of the creature's jaw with a quick and deadly precision and force. Before the beast had a chance to react the arm guided the blades effortlessly down to the throat of the creature and tearing out the bottom of its mouth. The blades tore through its flesh and reached it's chest. A long bloody fissure gaping from it's neck. The beast made a horrible sound as it stumbled away. It shook with convulsions as the blood poured from its slashed throat. It turned back the way it came to see the man rising from the water like some kind of mystical being. This monster's final thought would be the first of this kind it had ever had, fear.

The creature now lay dead in the water, as Vaughn walked up onto the nearby land. He stood there for a second, looking around. Then he flipped open the tiny wrist computer on his left gauntlet, tapped at a few buttons, then began speaking.

"I have the Young bloods, ready to return." He spoke in Yautja, a tongue that he had spoke in for quite some time now. The two Young bloods stepped out of the trees and seemed to radiate shame.

"Why did you leave?" was the stern response they got from Vaughn.

"We... we are sorry" one of the Yautja began to make an excuse, then gave up. A small sleek ship de-cloaked as it came into position over them. It hovered down into a landing on the soggy ground with its near silent engines. Vaughn and one of the Yautja made their way towards it, the other stayed behind for a second.

"But what about..." The young blood who stayed behind timidly motioned towards the corpse of the beast. Vaughn turned back to him and said "If you think your getting that trophy, then you have more to learn than I thought. Leave it to the scavengers."

The ship exited the orbit of the small planet and quickly jumped to hyper speed.

"We have to hurry if we want to catch the Arbiter." Vaughn said as he sat on a side bench seat in the back of the drop ship.

"So how about telling me why you thought it was a good idea to leave on your own?" Vaughn said in a slightly more friendly tone than before as he took off his mask. He had changed much in the time he had spent hunting. His hair had darkened again, this time to an almost black. He was now 6'6", five inches shorter than the average predator, but for a human he was big. His skin had taken a dark tanned tone and it complimented his new muscle mass nicely. He wore his new hair back in dreadlocks that stretched to his shoulders, ornamented with black and golden beads.

"Well I...I thought that if we could get a big trophy like that, that we would have more honor than any of the others." One of the young bloods said. Vaughn laughed and shook his head.

"Yeah well… don't be so hasty in the future. The hunter's greatest weapon is the knowledge of his prey." The pilot of the drop ship looked back at them after checking a display.

"It looks like we caught up to the Arbiter sooner than expected, they have entered the orbit of Kelos." Vaughn stood and walked to one of the windows as they fell from hyper space.

"Good, we've caught up with them with no problems... And even better, I love Kelos!" He said with a smile. The drop ship docked in with the huge bronze cruiser soon after. Vaughn made his way towards the bridge after he told the two young bloods to report to Ka'jeal. The big doors slid open as the man walked up to them. He entered the bridge and strode up to the large chair with Vanguards on each side. The Arbiter sat there, flicking through some files on a small computer screen. Vaughn took a knee.

"My lord, I've retrieved the young bloods." The arbiter raised his brow and spoke. "Ah... that. Yes, good."

"And let me be the first to say that I'm happy that you have decided to visit Kelos again." Vaughn said, his head still bowed. The Arbiter motioned for him to rise as he pushed the computer display to the side.

"Ooman you have served me well, much more so than I had ever expected. You have visited Kelos before but always with your mask on for fear we may confuse them, but this time I want you to play a larger role.

Their simple people view us as gods as yours did long ago, but they have begun to grow smarter. Some of their citizens want more proof that we are gods, and while we could just as easily force them to serve us, voluntary servitude is much simpler."

"What is it that you want me to do my lord?" Vaughn said as he tried to figure out where this was going.

"You shall travel to the surface of Kelos, and convince them that you are a God that has taken their form, proving our divine powers. Their physical appearance is nearly identical to yours so you should have no problems."

Vaughn nodded. He had learned long ago that not every problem had a physical solution.

"What will they want to do Grand Arbiter?" Vaughn asked as he thought about it. The Arbiter shook his head as he pulled the monitor back in front of him.

"I do not know, but do what you must to prove to them we are gods. I have more important matters to attend to. Take two escorts along with you, Kelos houses a blooding temple and although it is not the time of blooding, ritual beasts are dormant within." Vaughn stayed silent, He knew his place as an Ooman among these Yautja meant he could never participant in a blooding. As much progress as he had made, and as accepted as he was, they would never let him forget his place. "Be gone now, I have matter to attend to." The Arbiter said as he dismissed Vaughn.

"Your will be done my lord." Vaughn left the chamber with haste.

"Kaj… hey Kaj you there?" Vaughn said through the intercom channel to Ka-jeal's room. The door slid open and Ka-jeal came walking out in full armor. His pearl colored plates where a stark contrast to Vaughn's own gold shaded ones.

"I already know about it, _Oh mighty God!_" Ka-jeal said with a theatric bow. Vaughn laughed as he struck a heroic pose.

"So do you think, I have the look down or what?" He said with a smile. Ka-jeal rubbed his chin and looked away.

"You are without a doubt the ugliest god I have ever seen!" Ka-Jeal said dramatically. They both laughed and hit fists together.

"So you're in I assume?" Vaughn asked as they began walking down the hall.

"Of course I am my brother" Ka-jeal replied.

"Alright, I'll meet your in the hanger in a minute, just let me get ready… oh, and grab someone else to, I'm supposed to have two escorts." Vaughn said as he ducked into his room. Ka-jeal nodded and headed off towards other rooming areas


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Preparations and Betrayal**

Vaughn sat silently in his darkened room, whispering a prayer to the Yautja gods as all hunters did daily. It struck him as odd that he was praying to the gods for luck in faking being a god. But then again he thought that he would never truly understand Yautja ways. He arose from his crouching position in the center of the room and made his way into an adjacent one.

The walls of this room were covered in skulls. He glanced at a very large reptilian one and smiled to himself when he thought of the young bloods attempting to take down the same prey as this earlier. He himself would have been considered a young blood by Yautja standards as far as age goes, but he was a hundred times as skilled as a Yautja his own age. Many other skulls lined the walls, large ones, small ones, just about every shape and size you could think of was there. (although Vaughn had never taken a human life in his time with the Yautja he had hunted similar species.) One spot in particular stood out to him as he walked by. Two rows of masks, eight in all. Yautja masks, all from bad bloods he had slain. He made his way to the back of the room, were upon the wall four gloriously ornamented spears hung.

The synthetic man kneeled down in front of them and said another prayer under his breath. These had been a symbol for him, of power, of victory, but also of guilt. The prayer he said was to an old opponent, one named 'Rhal'. He still didn't feel right about killing the strange champion of the games in the way it happened, something about it had always hung with him. He asked the spirit of Rhal for strength, he did this before every hunt or other important even, just after the prayer to the gods. He had won the last four championships at the games, and he now knew why that was the record that so many great warriors were tied at. He had begun to respect them, all those who had came before him, all those who had braved the odds, and won. Who stood in that same arena as him, time and time again, to emerge victorious. Those who had bled there and drawn the blood of others.

He had stopped after four wins, to keep the record intact. He believed that it was the honorable thing to do. Sometimes the thought crossed his mind that Rhal hadn't put forth his full effort in their fight those years ago, and that he wanted to die to keep the tie going. He didn't know whether this was truth, or just him trying to justify himself. Now was not the time for such thoughts though. Vaughn quickly stood, and spun around, walking quickly through the room and into the other. He strode into the hall with a purposeful walk, it was time to go. Vaughn made his way towards the hanger. When he got there a few minutes later Ka-jeal was already waiting with one of the young bloods from before. "You?" Vaughn said with surprise. Ka-jeal looked back at the young blood. "This one wishes to make up for his mistakes." Ka-jeal said. The young blood bowed his head, a sign of respect. "Good, that is the first step to actually making up for it." Vaughn said as they made their way into the hanger bay. "What is your name?" Vaughn said as Ka-jeal sat down in the driver's seat and started up the ship. "Xell sir." The young blood said. Vaughn looked over him, Xell was a light Yautja there was no doubt about it. "Alright Xell, just stay quiet down there and follow orders." Vaughn said as he sat down in the co-pilot seat.

"Hanger this is Ka-jeal requesting launch." "Ka-jeal, request confirmed… you are clear to launch." A voice came back over the console.

The Arbiter looked up from a monitor as two Vanguards escorted a Yautja into the chamber. The Arbiter tensed, pushing the monitor away and standing from his chair. "You…" He said with scorn to the Yautja before him. The bad blood was clad in dark red armor, thick layered plates with spiked studs. His mask was simple in design, but the left half of it was blacked out right down the middle. His long dark red dreadlocks hung down to his lower back, ornamented with hundreds of beads and clasps. He wasn't heavily armed, a shoulder cannon sat motionless on his right shoulder and he wore the standard Yautja wrist blade gauntlet along with two heavy wrist swords. "Grand Arbiter, it is so good to see you again." The Yautja said with an imperfection in his voice that those who didn't know him would find difficult to place. "I'm surprised that you saved me the trouble of hunting you down." The Arbiter said as he pulled a Vanguard scythe from the side of his throne. "You are a fool old man, your name will fade in the river to time… so the council has decreed." The Arbiter raised an eyebrow, flicking his mandibles. "You know not what you speak of Rah'na-rok." The elder said taking a step forwards. "You use my name so freely now? And here I thought you had forgotten it, father." Rah'na-rok said as his wrist swords extended. All of the Vanguard where tense, but something was wrong. "Look at you, you are a fossil… and you know my words to be true… the council has betrayed you. They have chosen their new sword." The Arbiter watched as the Vanguard sided with the crimson Yautja. "You fools, you know not what you do!" The Arbiter roared at them, but they did not budge. "Do you believe me now? Can you see the end of your road through that one eye old man?" The Arbiter's robotic sight eye twitched as he ran a claw across it. "And what of your one eye? I hope it burns when you think of this." The Arbiter said as he raised the scythe defensively. Rah-na'rok reached up and deactivated the suction holding his mask on, pulling it away to reveal his scarred face. Most of the left half of the Yautja's face was a twisted mass of scar tissue with a hollow eye socket. Both mandibles on that side of his face where only partially intact and the cheek between them was gone. "This horrible face is the face of destiny!" Rah-na'rok screamed as his voice distorted and wavered. "And you really think the council will elevate you to my rank? Even you should know your mind has turned to rot." The old Yautja said as his eye flickered back and forth, he knew what everyone in this room was capable of, and he knew he was better then them all. "Me? No no no…" The crimson Yautja said, his calm coming back. "My place is not as the blade of the council, those shackles are reserved for Crescent." "Crescent?! Those damn fools…" The Arbiter said shaking his head. "He will be their downfall…" He said. Rah-na'rok laughed and shrugged. "Maybe he will, or maybe he will usher in a new era of power for the council… either way I do not care. I have left all allegiances behind me… My only master now is payment… take him." The Vanguard moved all at once, they where trained beyond that of hunters, they where warriors, but they where no legends." In a matter of seconds the six Vanguard fell to the ground in pieces. The Arbiter moving from one to another in faint blurs of movement. Green blood splattered the walls of the chamber as the Arbiter stood like he had never moved in front of his throne like chair.. Blood dripped from the scythe in a thin stream and pooled on the ground at his feet. "You've gotten slow old man." Rah-na'rok said as he put his wrist swords away. The Arbiter tried to speak, but his head fell from his shoulders as his body fell lifelessly back into the chair. Rah-na'rok tapped at his wrist computer as he walked over to the chair. "This is Rah-na'rok… My mission is complete, I expect payment in full." "The Arbiter is dead? Please confirm the kill…" "Kill confirmed." "Good, the payment will be delivered as soon as possible, what of the Ooman?" "The Ooman was not here." Rah-na'rok said as he leaned down and detached the ceremonial mask from the Arbiter's chestplate. "If you want him dead as well, it will cost you." The Yautja said as he put his own mask back on. "We are prepared to negotiate a price."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Kelos **

The drop ship smashed through the atmosphere, the outer hull glowing red hot as flames trailed from it like a meteor. The shutter shook as Ka-jeal pulled hard on the controls, breaking through the atmosphere like they had done so many times before. The Yautja where unmoved by the beautiful landscape, another thing Vaughn had never quite adapted to. The rolling hills of waist high golden grass, a vast emerald ocean that seemed to cover over half the planet, and the mountains stretching up into the sky that littered the only inhabited continent. The drop ship came down in a field surrounded by mountains on every side, the jets firing down and slowing the descent. Ka-jeal tapped at the controls as the drop ship came to a halt. "Alright, you ready for this?" Ka-jeal looked back at Vaughn. "Yeah sure, as ready as I can be for something like this." Vaughn said with a shrug as he got up and pulled a retractable spear from the wall. Xell stood nervously waiting for the other two to move before he did anything. "Did Kaj yell you what's going on?" Vaughn asked the young blood as Ka-jeal sent the conformation message back to the Aribter's ship. "Yes sir, he told me all about it, but I'm not sure what we are supposed to be doing." Xell said. "Don't worry about it, we aren't even positive what the problem is, so just keep quiet and stick close, it shouldn't be a big deal." Vaughn said slapping Xell's shoulder. "Hey something's up, I can't get a hold of the ship…"

Ka-jeal said as he tried the communications channel again. "I repeat, this is Ka-jeal, we have landed on Kelos without incident, please respond…" Nothing but static came back over the communications channel. Vaughn and Xell stood behind the pilot chair looking over his shoulder. "I'm sure everything is fine, let's get this over with so we can head back." Vaughn said as Ka-jeal stood and got ready. "I thought you like Kelos?" he said as he double checked the disks at his hips. "Yeah, the Kelosians remind me of humans… but I've got a bad feeling about this now…" Vaughn said with a sigh. Ka-jeal slammed a button on the wall, the door sliding open and the ramp rolling down as the light rushed in. "Only one way to find out."

The three walked down the ramp into the bright sunlight outside, the tall golden grass appearing like waves as the wind blew. The sun was warm on Vaughn's skin, but over the years with the Yautja his body had gotten used to the extreme heat they preferred. "This damn place is kinda' cold." Ka-jeal said rubbing his arms. Two Yautja came walking up to them through a matted down path in the field. "You took your time getting here." One of them said with a grunt. He was large, even for a Yautja. He was nearly eight and a half feet tall, and his wide shoulders and bulky body marked him as a bruiser. His right shoulder was covered by a large thick skull that looked like it was from something similar to a rhino, the rest of him was covered in thick grey plate mail. His weapon of choice, a combat spear was strapped at his back, it wasn't as retractable as the one Vaughn had picked up, but it was the kind a powerful Yautja could make a living off of. The other stayed silent, and one look at him told you what he did. His armor was black and dull, sleek and smooth and the plates of it blended almost seamlessly with his mesh bodysuit. He was average height and skinny, a kind of lanky runner's build. He was a sniper, a Yautja stalker, his weapon of choice hung at his hip, a spear gun.

"We came as soon as the order was given." Vaughn said. The Bruiser grunted again and motioned for them to follow as he and the Stalker turned around. "So what's the deal down here anyway?" Vaughn said as Ka-jeal hit a button on his wrist computer and the ship closed up and cloaked. "There has been a massive breach of protocol." The Stalker said in a raspy voice that surprised Vaughn. "What do you mean?" He asked. "We don't know how yet, but somehow the Kelosians got the bright idea that they needed to mess with the ritual beasts." "Bugs…" Vaughn thought to himself. "How bad is it? Can it be contained?" Ka-jeal asked. "Unfortunately before we knew it, the damn savages lost a dozen men… within a couple days there was a full blown hive." The Bruiser said. Everyone stopped, they knew that meant the situation was bad. "But we have managed to close off the tunnels leading to the overrun areas with detonations, but it's only a matter of time before they escape." The Stalker added as everyone started walking again, going down the path that headed into the mountains. "Tunnels?" Xell asked curiously. "The Kelosians make their homes in the sides of cliffs and mountains, pretty much a series of catacombs…" Vaughn said without looking at him. "Before we could close up the tunnels though, twenty more Kelosians went missing in the night… one guess where they went." The Bruiser said grimly. "So we're looking at a full blown hive now?" Vaughn said with a tinge of worry in his voice. "Thirty plus members, and they've had enough time to develop a social structure and form a proper hive… so that means there are likely warriors among them… let us hope they have not seen it necessary to create royal guards." Ka-jeal said with a slow shake of his head. Vaughn had never seen that particular kind of alien, but from stories, and from trophies, he knew they had a reputation as demons even among the most fearsome hunters. "Praetorians…" He said aloud as they walked, no one said anything about it.

"Listen, we need to bring in reinforcements, it's reckless to try and do this with only the five of us." The Stalker said finally. "No can do, we have lost contact with the mother ship." Ka-jeal answered him. "What?" The Bruiser said looking back. "I'm sure it's fine, just a malfunction or unscheduled maintenance." Vaughn said as they reached the edge of the mountains, a steep cliff jutting straight up. The Bruiser led them to a small outcropping of rock, a cave just to the side of it. It was actually more like a tunnel, and as they went through it, they came into the Kelosian village. It was a valley, completely surrounded by steep tall mountains, one of the best natural defenses Vaughn had ever seen. The steep rock walls where littered with holes, countless caves and depressions that made up the vast catacomb system in these mountains. The Kelosians used the shallow caves for their homes, and the deep caverns were used as their temples. This is where the Yautja had set up a blooding temple, deep within one of the caverns. The valley was littered with little separated farms and pastures, fields of crops and livestock. The Kelosians all stopped what they where doing as the Yautja walked by, unsure if these being where gods, but obviously captivated by them. Vaughn smiled under his mask, they reminded him of humans, no matter how many times he saw them, this was always what he thought. They where taller and lankier than humans, and generally where in extremely good shape. It was an odd thing to see, even the children and women had muscle definition, if not mass. Their skin was tanned by the sun, despite living in caves they spent much time outside with their crops and livestock. Their hair seemed to range from the same golden color as the grass here, to a grayish white, and their eyes where narrow and sharp, most of them having red or purple irises. Both men and women wore their hair long, although women more frequently put it in braids or styles. They wore little clothing, mostly simple hide pants or vests with bone crafted jewelry. Their incisors where slightly longer than a humans, and their fingernails where more similar to claws, black and hard, ending in sharp tips. Their ears where the biggest difference between them and humans, long and tapered to a point, with small tuffs of hair at the tips. They had their differences from humans, but compared to most species Vaughn had encountered, they seemed almost the same. It wouldn't be for some while later that Vaughn realized just how different they where, because he himself had changed drastically over the years. It had been a slow thing, a subtle thing. Where he had been a little on the short side before, he now stood six foot ten. His hair had been blonde and short, but now hung in long black dreadlocks around his face. Even his skin, that had once been fair, even to the point of being considered slightly pale, was now a deep tan that rivaled that of South Americans. In muscle mass he was twice the size he had been when all of this started, the years of training had agreed with him perfectly.

Vaughn realized he had lost himself in thought, snapping back to reality as a thin pale Kelosian approached them. It was easy to tell the Kelosian priests from the rest of the people, they spent most of their lives in the deep catacombs, and probably never did an ounce of physical work. Even so they still held a slight muscular tone to their pale bodies, a testament to just how hardy these people where. The priests wore more clothing than the others, but still just simple toga like garments with a bit more bone jewelry than most. Their vision was bad from the darkness, and they squinted at the slightest bit of sunlight, the one before them now looked almost blind in the mid-day sun. He kneeled down before the Yautja slowly, he was an older man, and it took him a second longer than it should have. "My great noble gods…" The man said theatrically in Kelosian. Vaughn had learned the language after his first visit here, he had learned quite a few languages of the slave races of the Yautja over the years. He couldn't really explain it, but the languages came so easily to him, no matter what the dialect, the type of species using it, he had managed to master just about every language he tried to. There where some that he couldn't pronounce however, languages that the Yautja had a much easier time with. Their vocal cords where build differently, Yautja and Human, and from what Vaughn understood his own Yautja was a bit odd. "What heresy goes on here priest?" The Stalker said in Kelosian. Vaughn was surprised at first, then figured that was the reason why these Yautja where stationed here. Kelosian was one of the languages it was difficult for the Yautja to pronounce clearly, so anyone who was adept at it found their way to this place.

"My great noble gods! There is unrest among our people! Many are questioning your divinity! We have tried to reason with them, but they rushed into the forbidden temple, and the demons took them away! That isn't all my great noble gods, in the night, demons took more of us, these unbelievers have cost us thirty two of our own!" The Priest wailed at the Stalker's feet. "This was already known to us, we have sealed the entrances to the … demon's lair, and we will deal with them momentarily." The Bruiser said thick accented Kelosian. "We wish to know why these unbelievers acted! What caused this?" The Stalker demanded of the priest. "Lies my great noble gods! Some evil shape shifting demon came in the night, in your very forms my great noble gods! He said there where no gods, only trickery and deception!" The Yautja all looked at each other as the priest babbled on. "This is not good, another Yautja has spread the seeds of deception among these people…" The Stalker said in Yautja. "Yes… perhaps the work of a bad blood?" Ka-jeal replied. "Most likely… but why? What purpose would this deception serve?" The Bruiser asked. "I do not know… but first we must find a way to calm these people, but them back where they should be, then we need to deal with that hive." Ka-jeal said cracking his neck. "I have an idea for the first one." Vaughn said walking past him. "Priest, gather your people, and retrieve the strongest of the remaining unbelievers." He said in nearly perfect Kelosian. It was instantly recognizable, the difference between his and the other's speech. "Ye… yes my great noble god…"


End file.
